Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson uses security detail

View full sizePAUL CHAPLIN, The Patriot-News/fileHarrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson speaks to the media following her inauguration at The Forum in Harrisburg on Jan. 4. Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson is being protected by at least two city police detectives.

Joyce Davis, the city’s new communications director, said that former Mayor Stephen R. Reed had similar protection.

Reed could not be reached for comment. "All mayors, as well as people like governors and presidents, have a security detail," Davis said. "That was the same case with Mayor Reed. That is the same case with Mayor Thompson."

The police department, Davis said, determines the security needs.

It’s unclear whether Thompson’s security detail is limited to two city detectives. Davis said that the police do not want to give out the exact number assigned to Thompson’s security detail.

For security reasons, Davis declined to say how often the security detail is with Thompson.

However, Davis did say that a car and a driver have been assigned to the mayor on the occasions that she must go places to represent the city. Davis did not identify the type of car Thompson had been assigned. She did, however, say that it was not a limousine.

"We want to make sure that she is protected," Davis said.

Davis was not able to provide the cost of Thompson’s security detail.

Although newly appointed Police Chief Pierre Ritter told Channel 27 ABC News that Thompson had one minor security brush at a recent inaugural event, Davis did not identify any threats that had been made against the mayor.

"There are threats always made against the mayor," she said. "We know there are people out there that don’t like the idea of this mayor."

Thompson is the first African-American woman to lead the capital city.

York residents elected Kim Bracey, the first African-American woman to lead that city. Contacted Thursday morning, Bracey said that she does not have, nor does she want a security detail. The city Bracey leads is home to the 1969 race riots, which resulted in the death of a black woman. Decades after her death, those thought to be involved with the woman’s death were charged.

"I work in the same building with the police department," Bracey said. "I know anything can happen, but I don’t have a detail."

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